


Best Kept Secret

by seekrest



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: F/M, MJ is a physics teacher, POV Outsider, Peter and MJ are always meant for each other, Peter is a chemistry teacher, Tony is the eccentric substitute that encourages them, their students are CONVINCED they would be great together, truly 2k of high schoolers being absolutely right™️
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:01:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23292127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seekrest/pseuds/seekrest
Summary: High school was hell, even one as relatively nice as Midtown.Boring classes. Boring teachers. Electives specifically designed to be the most appealing to whatever Ivy League college Midtown graduates applied to.Yet aside from the usual gossip and high school drama, the number one focus for the junior class at Midtown School of Science and Technology revolved around the potential romantic relationship not between students - but two teachers.Mr. Parker in chemistry and Ms. Jones in physics.
Relationships: Michelle Jones/Peter Parker
Comments: 149
Kudos: 530





	Best Kept Secret

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to fireaway for prompting this to begin with!!! And to blondsak for giving the galaxy brain idea of Tony being an agent of chaos in this story and for the title!
> 
> We love chaotic outsider POVs in this household!!!

“Did you see Mr. Parker and Ms. Jones today?” Cheyenne whispered conspiratorially, Asha rolling her eyes as she focused on her worksheet.

“Shut up, Chey he’ll hear you.” Asha whispered back, not so subtly nodding towards where Mr. Parker was standing - his hands braced against his desk as he looked down at the papers in front of him.

“God, he’s so fucking hot.” 

“ _CHEYENNE_.”

“What?” Cheyenne asks, Asha rolling her eyes as her best friend continues, “He is. It’s Midtown’s fault for hiring fucking models. I’m telling you, this is a conspiracy to remind us that hot people are into science too.”

“It’s called Midtown science, Chey,” Asha whispers, glancing up to see Mr. Parker lean up from his desk, rolling his sleeves up as he furrowed his eyebrows - hating that Cheyenne was right even if Asha would never admit it - as she continues, “Science is what we do.”

“Whatever Asha,” Cheyenne whispers once more, Asha bringing her attention back to her work sheet as she tries - and fails - to focus, “this is all a scam, I’m sure of it.”

Asha doesn’t reply, especially now that Mr. Parker moved away from his desk - making his way down the aisle to where the two of them are.

“Everyone doing okay?” He asks, Cheyenne glancing up sweetly while Asha struggles to hold back an eye roll.

“Perfect Mr. Parker.” Asha hears her say, Mr. Parker walking past them and towards the back of the room.

Cheyenne has the decency to wait until Mr. Parker has finished his walk about - safely back in the center of the room before she whispers again, “You could bounce a penny off that ass.”

“Cheyenne, if you don’t stop—“

“I’m right and you know it,” Cheyenne says, sticking her tongue out before winking - leaning forward as she says, “And besides, I’m not the only one who thinks so.”

“Five more minutes, class.” Mr. Parker calls out, Asha glancing up to see him smiling at them before folding his arms together.

Cheyenne finally goes back to her own worksheet, Asha being glad for it - even if with her last statement, she wouldn’t have argued.

Asha knew exactly who Cheyenne was referring to. For all the ridiculous conspiracy theories that Cheyenne had, Asha was convinced that she was right about one thing.

Mr. Parker and Ms. Jones would be perfect for each other.

* * *

High school was hell, even one as relatively nice as Midtown. 

Boring classes. Boring teachers. Electives specifically designed to be the most appealing to whatever Ivy League college Midtown graduates applied to.

Naturally, the best way to pass time on any given day was to talk shit with your classmates - as far as Asha was concerned, it was the highlight of her day. 

Yet aside from the usual gossip and high school drama, the number one focus for the junior class at Midtown School of Science and Technology revolved around a romantic relationship not between students - but two teachers.

Mr. Parker in chemistry and Ms. Jones in physics.

Their relationship - or lack thereof - was the stuff of legend by now, Asha remembering the first time she’d ever seen them interact in the hall, Ms. Jones rolling her eyes at something Mr. Parker said during the first week of school.

They were both new teachers, both teaching sciences and - Cheyenne was right about _two_ things - both ridiculously hot.

It was unfair really, Asha thought - the two classes she liked the most to be taught by teachers that didn’t have any right to look as great as they did. 

Mr. Parker with his rolled up sleeves and a watch that looked expensive, describing stoichiometry in a way that mesmerized her. 

Ms. Jones with her killer leather jacket and dark skinny jeans, the way her letters in the formulas she wrote on the white board looping in circles, as if she had been an artist in another life. 

Asha was convinced that Cheyenne was right - Mr. Parker and Ms. Jones would be an excellent couple. 

Even if neither of them seemed interested in the idea.

* * *

“Ms. Jones, do you like shawarma?” Asha overhead Julio ask, the whole room feeling like it screeched to a standstill as Ms. Jones raised an eyebrow.

“And why do you ask Mr. Martinez?” She asks, her voice just sharp enough that it made Asha sit a little straighter, glad that Ms. Jones’ attention wasn’t focused on her.

But Julio was probably the biggest shit talker in their class, probably in their entire year - glad that Ms. Jones was willing to play along as he says, “Cause Mr. Parker said he was going to a place uptown this weekend. Thought you’d like to know.”

“Did you now?” Ms. Jones asks, folding her arms together and with a completely unreadable expression on her face - something that wasn’t all that spectacular since that seemed to be her default state of being half the time.

Julio just nods - the little shit - smirking at her as he leans back in her chair and says, “It’s like you said last week. An object at rest stays at rest.”

A beat. “Unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.”

“And that force, I would presume, is you?” Ms. Jones asks, the whole room feeling as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of it.

Asha watched as Julio’s bravado starts to sway, swallowing something down in his throat as he stares back at Ms. Jones.

“Yes?” He answers, his voice wavering slightly.

Asha’s gaze moves from Julio to Ms. Jones, watching as she narrows her eyes for a moment before the briefest hint of a smirk flies across her face - unfolding her arms before she says, “Interesting theory, Mr. Martinez. Why don’t we save the experiments for your end of term project?”

“Yes Ms. Jones.” Julio quietly replies as if he’d been yelled at even if Ms. Jones’ tone hadn’t raised an octave any higher than it usually was. 

Ms. Jones takes that as answer enough, shifting her attention back to the rest of the class and resuming her lesson - Asha throwing daggers at Julio who just shrugs.

It was a bold move, trying to push Ms. Jones on something that they had been subtly working towards all year. 

Julio would pay for it later, Sharif’s glare being worse than Cheyenne’s as Asha looked back to Ms. Jones - her back to the class as she wrote out the formulas they would be using that day, those same familiar loops in the bright blue of the marker contrasted with the stark white of the white board.

It was probably creepy, Asha thought - how intense her crush on two of her teachers were - even creepier at how intently their two classes combined seemed united in bringing the two of them together.

But high school was hell. Matchmaking was fun.

And anything that distracted Asha from the crippling student loan debt she’d no doubt accumulate in her very near future was worth it.

* * *

“Hey kids, how's it going? What’s happening?”

“Hey Mr. Stark,” Asha says with a smile, gesturing to the array of decorations spread out on the floor of the gym, “Nothing much, just trying to get all of this together for prom.” 

Mr. Stark peers over his glasses, pursing his lips before they transform into a smile as he nods and says, “Looks great. You kids get more and more creative by the minute don’t you?”

“Not that creative.” Cheyenne mutters, Asha shooting her a look and hoping Mr. Stark didn’t hear it only to wince when he says, “Oh?”

“Nothing, it’s nothing Mr. Stark.” Asha tries to amend, smiling at the substitute math teacher who seemed to show up at Midtown more often than not.

“Doesn’t sound like nothing,” he says, nodding towards Cheyenne’s put out expression, “care to share Ms. Schmidt?”

“You ever get super frustrated that people who are perfect for each other just refuse to accept it?” Cheyenne says as she sighs dramatically, Mr. Stark nodding.

“Ah so it’s a love problem then?”

“Yeah,” Cheyenne replies, ignoring Asha’s glares as she says, “But it’s not about me. It's about—“

She’s cut off by Paloma’s throwing a marker at her head, Asha holding back a laugh when Paloma calls out saying, “Sorry.”

Cheyenne just squints at her but Mr. Stark just seems to take it all in stride, leaning on the cane he used as he said, “Sometimes you can’t force things, kid. Even if it’s what you want.”

Cheyenne rubs the spot where the marker hit as she says, “But what if it’s not what I want but what would be best for them?”

Mr. Stark laughs, Asha watching as he shakes his head and says, “You sound like someone I used to know.”

The three of them wait for him to elaborate but he doesn’t, getting a faraway expression on his face before saying, “I do know this. Nothing ever worked better for me than bringing two people together than a dance.”

He smiles, winks at them conspiratorially - as if there he knew exactly who they all were referring to - before saying, “That’d be my advice.”

Mr. Stark leaves with that, migrating over to another group when Paloma hits Cheyenne with her arm, Asha laughing as Paloma whispers, “What the hell was that? You’re gonna make him think we’re crazy.”

But Cheyenne has a look on her face that Asha knows all too well, frowning as her best friend said, “You guys, I got an idea.”

* * *

If her life was normal, Asha should’ve looked forward to prom night for any number of reasons.

Elisha - her date - looked great in their tux, matching Asha’s choice of dress and smiling for the pictures Asha’s parents had forced them to take.

The gym had been completely transformed, looking less like it had been filled with sweaty, hormonal teenagers hours before and more like something that could pass for decent.

But the thing Asha was most looking forward to - though she would never in a million years admit it to be true - was to see if Cheyenne’s plan would actually work.

Neither Mr. Parker or Ms. Jones were on social media as far as anyone could see, but they were former students at Midtown - Simon finding an old yearbook of theirs and scanning the pages to the rest of their class.

It took only a few hours of all of their combined searching - their group chat being more focused than it had ever been - to piece together a timeline of the two of them, rightfully guessing that they were around the same age and even more excited that they had been in the same year - figuring out their junior prom theme taking no time at all.

The plan was stupid - putting on an old song and hoping it would “spark some memories” as Cheyenne had put it. But Asha was beyond trying to deny it.

She held Elisha’s hand as they waited, looking up at them as they smiled - squeezing her hand back as the music started to play.

Mr. Parker and Ms. Jones were standing next to each other already - intentional, since Alex had been the one make a mess of some of the balloons that forced them close by - watching in glee as Mr. Parker’s eyes lit up, glancing towards the ceiling before whispering something into Ms. Jones’ ear.

There were people dancing but it still felt like the room came to a standstill when he leaned away from her, extending his hand out in a clear invitation to dance - Asha feeling as if her entire life had been building for that moment when Ms. Jones smiled and let him lead her to the dance floor.

Cheyenne’s eyes bugged out and Asha’s sure that Elisha’s hand was cutting off her circulation but she didn’t care - staring at the two of them with her mouth open in disbelief as the hottest teachers in Midtown started to slow dance, wondering when the hell her life ever went according to plan.

Cheyenne makes a beeline towards them, Asha smiling despite herself as she whispers, “I knew it. I fucking knew it.”

“Shhh okay, fuck. I know.” Asha says, knowing she doesn’t have to whisper but feeling like she should - witnessing an actual miracle as the two of them stared into each other’s eyes, watching as Mr. Parker and Ms. Jones looked at each other like they were falling in love in real-time.

High school was hell, Asha knew that.

But if this ended up being the highlight of her high school career, Asha was already convinced that she could graduate tomorrow and be happy.

* * *

Peter leans in, hearing the soft gasps of the students in the background - putting his mouth close to Michelle’s ear as he whispered, “How much you wanna bet Tony put them up to this?”

Michelle laughs, Peter leaning back as they gently swayed together - rolling her eyes as she says, “I don’t take losing bets, Parker. That man doesn’t know how to mind his own business to save his life.”

Peter shrugs. “True, but it’s for a good cause.” 

“That good cause being?” Michelle asks, letting Peter bring her closer as he smiles, seeing out of the corner of his eye that Cheyenne Schmidt looked as if she was going to pass out from how close they were.

“Making a few kids think they did something. High school’s boring, MJ. You can’t tell me this isn’t funny.”

“It _is_ hilarious that they think I’d ever want to date you. Really, I’m entirely out of your league.” She says, smiling at him as Peter laughs.

“Absolutely, you are,” He leans in closer, their noses almost touching as he says, “Too bad you married me then huh?”

“Tragic really.” Michelle whispers, her hands fiddling with the chain of the necklace that held his wedding ring at the nape of his neck, feeling as if the whole room was focused on them.

“The worst.” Peter whispers back, kissing his wife for all of Midtown to see - feeling the smile on her lips and hearing the shocked gasp of the students around them.

Neither of them had planned on keeping their relationship a secret, a joke from their first week quickly spiraling out of control. 

But as they kissed, bringing her closer as he heard the excited whispers of the students around them, Peter smiled to himself.

High school was hell, Peter knew that better than anyone. 

Letting his students think that they’d successfully put him and MJ together? 

He could live with that. 


End file.
